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A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrights.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to kitchen utensils for use in the preparation of food, and, more particularly, to an electric hand-held cutting utensil adapted for cutting soft foods, such as batter and dough, pizza, pancakes, waffles, and quiches, into fanciful shapes.
2. Description of the Background Art
Humans have employed tools as useful instruments for cooking for countless centuries. As a result, a wide variety tools are known in the cooking art. For example, the use of knives, forks, spoons, and a host of other instruments and gadgets are known to render the cooking process efficient and sanitary. In addition, a wide variety of specially adapted utensils have been developed for specific tasks.
As a result of the advent of electricity, a number of electrically powered cooking instruments have been developed. For example, electric knives specifically designed for carving large servings of meat and poultry, and handheld mixing devices and food processors, are popular kitchen utensils in widespread use.
The wide variety of foods prepared by diverse populations have fueled the. development of specialized cooking utensils. For example, cookie cutters have been developed to facilitate the cutting of dough into fanciful shapes thereby enhancing presentation and appearance. There thus exists a need for an improved cooking utensil specifically designed and adapted for use in efficiently cutting foods into fanciful shapes with minimal time and effort.
The present invention provides a hand-held electric cutting utensil adapted to receive a variety of shaped attachments adapted for cutting any of a variety of foods into fanciful shapes. The cutting utensil includes a housing having an ergonomically designed external shape adapted to comfortably fit in a user""s hand. The housing contains an electric motor having an output shaft connected to an attachment-receiving tip by an oscillation-generating coupling. The attachment-receiving tip includes a chuck lock assembly for receiving a plurality of variously sized and shaped interchangeable cutting heads. Each cutting head includes a projecting knife-like edge formed into a fanciful shape, such as a heart or a star, or any other suitable shape. The electric motor may be powered by one or more batteries contained within the housing, or by direct connection to an electrical outlet using a power cord. A base is provided for storage of the device and attachments. In the case of the battery powered embodiment the base is further adapted for recharging.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved electric cutting utensil for use in preparing foods.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a hand-held cutting utensil adapted to interchangeably receive a plurality of cutting heads.
In accordance with these and other objects, which will become apparent hereinafter, the instant invention will now be described with particular reference to the accompanying drawings.